Death of a Salesman
Death of a Salesman is a novel by Arthur Miller that is considered by many to be the cornerstone reflection of contemporary American drama. Arthur Miller was born and raised in Manhattan, New York. His parents were Jewish and they had migrated to New York in search of prosperity. His father, who was known as Isadore had a successful garment shop which he ran for a couple of years, while his mother Augusta was a teacher. Nevertheless, in 1928, the Arthur Miller family decided to move to Brooklyn. The failure of his father’s business and subsequent withdrawal from business played a major effect in the life of Miller, which saw him having direct character roots of Willy Loman.
Arthur Miller in the play addresses the inability of a man to accept and change himself and the loss of identity in a society. The novel explains the memories of confrontations, arguments, and dreams that make up Lomans’ life. Miller in the play uses Willy, Happy, Biff, and Linda, who are all Loman’s family to explain and show the contradiction, order, disorder, and self-perpetuating cycle of denial. In the play, Willy had an affair 15 years, which Miller uses to show how individuals can be defined by a single thing and their attempt to try and eradicate the thing. Before the time Loman’s sons were able to discover the affair, Biff adored Loman, Biff believed Loman a lot from his stories till he prescribed to the Philosophy of Willy Loman that as long as a person is liked everything is possible. However, with the realization of how Willy is unfaithful to Linda made Biff reevaluate Loman’s. All these made Willy realizes that he had constructed a bad image for himself, the society and his family.
Moreover, like how Willy wanted everyone to believe him, he is not an invincible father to his children, a loyal husband to his wife, or a successful salesman. Willy Loman is a self-centered individual, he did not appreciate his wife, nonetheless, he does not acknowledge that he is only a marginally successful salesman. Thus, this makes Loman fantasize about the opportunities he had lost, the notoriety, and fame. Miller in the play does not solely criticize Willy Loman in the play, however, he explains how a person can construct a self-perpetuating cycle that develops exponentially to involve others. Miller shows how the Loman family until the end of the story, Loman hides the affair in his memory and decides to commit and live a life full of denial. Willy does not even recall what occurred, which makes him to naturally not understand why the relationship between him and his son Biff suddenly has changed. Loman admires and wants Biff to adore and have affection towards him like before, but instead, he finds out that two argue constantly. The confusion makes Willy vacillate, he sometimes criticizes Biff for being lazy and ineptitude, another time congratulating and praising his ambitions and abilities.
Furthermore, Happy and Linda are also drawn into the cycle of denial. Miller shows how Willy’s habit of reconstructing reality is well known by Linda, despite she recognizes that Willy Loman is not ready and able to accept reality, through his numerous attempts of suicide. Linda chooses to protect the illusions of Willy by assuming them to be true, even though she had to alienate her children from accepting them. Happy also believed in the philosophy of Willy which made him a product of it. Happy, like Willy Loman, he manipulates the truth so that he can create a reality for himself. Happy incorporates Willy’s behavior of editing facts when he tells everyone that he is an assistant buyer, even though he is an assistant to the assistant buyer.
In the play Death of a Salesman, Miller through his main character, Willy Loman, he also shows how shallow promise of happiness through material wealth and the myth of living an American Dream can change a person’s life. Miller uses Willy as an example to explain how undivided reality can end up in tragic results, especially when the promises and ambitions are not fulfilled. The situation of Willy is not something unique, he made mistakes that changed the relationship with him and with the people around him, who he loved most.
In summary, the novel Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller, Loman who is the main character chases concrete evidence about his success through editing facts. Willy projects his obsession through denial by creating reality. His material objection makes him be obsessed that makes him live a life that is of denial by projecting his achievements to his sons who are struggling with conflicts between their stress to succeed material and their vague needs. Denial seed trough Willy’s life till diamonds prevents him from succeeding because Loman was caught up in the past. He is unable to accept the fact that he is only an average salesman, instead he denies the reality by attaining his description of the American dream so that he can accomplish the life he wanted.